This vase is painted with birds, bamboo and flowering plants in varying washes of cobalt blue. It belongs to a type of Chinese ceramics described as ‘Transitional porcelain’, which was produced at the Jingdezhen kilns in the period of transition spanning the late Ming to early Qing dynasties. More specifically, this period stretched from the death of the Ming emperor Wanli in 1620 until the reorganisation of the imperial kilns in 1683. ‘Transitional’ porcelains often featured more naturalistic depictions of flora and fauna, as well as narrative scenes drawn on fine-quality white body.
